▶ GMO GENE GIANTS STOCKPILING PATENTS ON LIFE Nagoya, Japan -- Under the guise of developing “climate-ready” crops, the world’s largest seed and agrochemical corporations are filing hundreds of sweeping, multi-genome patents in a bid to control the world’s plant biomass, according to a report released by ETC Group http://www.etcgroup.org/fr/node/5220

Environmental Health News, September 23, 2013 ▶ SPECIAL REPORT: SCIENTISTS CRITICAL OF NEW EU CHEMICAL/PESTICIDE POLICY HAS INDUSTRY TIES, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST Seventeen scientists who have criticized plans in Europe to regulate endocrine-disrupting chemicals have past or current ties to regulated industries. An investigation by Environmental Health News reveals that of 18 toxicology journal editors who signed a controversial editorial, 17 have collaborated with the chemical, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, tobacco, pesticide or biotechnology industries.

▶ FEDERAL LAW MAKES IT PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO BAN HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS - The 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act, the only major environmental law that hasn't been updated since it was enacted, allows chemical manufacturers to skip evaluating the safety of their products before putting them on the market. http://www.scoop.it/t/agriculture-gmos-pesticides?q=chemicals+in+your+body/

▶ NEW MIT STUDY QUESTIONS MONSANTO SAFETY CLAIMS FOR PESTICIDE ROUNDUP “GLYPHOSATE" IN OUR FOOD AND WATER This effect, accord­ing to the researchers, can con­tribute to caus­ing or wors­en­ing “the dis­eases and con­di­tions asso­ci­ated with a Western diet which include gas­troin­testi­nal dis­or­ders, obe­sity, dia­betes, heart dis­ease, depres­sion, autism, infer­til­ity, can­cer and Alzheimer’s disease.”... http://organicconnectmag.com/wp/mit-study-questions-monsantos-safety-claims-for-roundup/#.Uc_BGevpiRQ

▶ NEW US GOVT "MONSANTO PROTECTION ACT" CONFIRMS MONSANTO POWER OVER US GOVERNMENThttp://ow.ly/iXRqG

The Asian Age, June 18, 2014 -▶ INDIA'S NEW CORPORATE GOVERNMENT AND THE POWER OF MONSANTO AND THE BIOTECH INDUSTRY. Intelligence agencies are supposed to protect the safety and security of a nation and its citizens from external threats. Tragically, we now have a report from the Intelligence Bureau that promotes the very foreign interests that are threatening our seed and food sovereignty, the livelihood of our farmers and the health of our citizens. The IB report, which was commissioned by the UPA government but submitted to the newly elected NDA government, blindly promotes genetically-modified organisms (GMOs). GMOs are the source of genetically modified foods. http://www.asianage.com/columnists/generously-motivated-526

The BRAI Bill overrides states’ authority over agriculture and health. It envisages only an advisory role for the states in the form of a state biotechnology regulatory advisory committee. The committee has no powers to enable the state to take any decision on introduction of modern biotechnology...http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/stage-set-gm-crops

This consultation is intended to pave the way for the introduction of many different types of GM animals into the European countryside, rivers or seas, their use in factory farming, and even their introduction as pets into people's homes.

-▶ GMOS AND THE FOOD FIGHT OF OUR LIVES. Monsanto isn’t the only culprit, of course. Syngenta, Bayer CropScience, DuPont, Dow Chemical, and Archer Daniels Midland (better known as ADM) are tweaking hundreds of genomes developed over thousands, even millions of years, crossing roses with pigs and butterflies with worms, not to mention corn with a virulent bacteria.The question is, how many years can the species homo sapiens continue to eat food that has NOT been “vetted” by Nature over thousands of years of evolution before the effects of our meddling show up in birth defects and other anomalies. http://www.celsias.com/article/gmos-and-food-fight-our-lives/

Monsanto isn’t the only culprit, of course. Syngenta, Bayer CropScience, DuPont, Dow Chemical, and Archer Daniels Midland (better known as ADM) are tweaking hundreds of genomes developed over thousands, even millions of years, crossing roses with pigs and butterflies with worms, not to mention corn with a virulent bacteria.

▶ CORPORATE CLOUT CHIPS AWAY AT USDA ORGANIC STANDARDS.Without any input from the public, the USDA changed the way the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) decides which non-organic materials are allowed in certified organic. The change all but guarantees that when the NOSB meets every six months, the list of non-organic and synthetic materials allowed in organic will get longer and longer. http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_29653.cfm

Technologywater,December 14, 2013▶ UN REPORT SAYS SMALL-SCALE ORGANIC FARMING ONLY WAY TO FEED THE WORLD.Even as the United States government continues to push for the use of more chemically-intensive and corporate-dominated farming methods such as GMOs and monoculture-based crops, the United Nations is once against sounding the alarm about the urgent need to return to (and develop) a more sustainable, natural and organic system.

Cornucopia Institute, June 19, 2014 ▶ DON'T BE FOOLED BY THE NAME :"THE ORGANIC TRADE ASSOCIATION" (OTA) IS A BIG INDUSTRY LOBBY GROUP MISREPRESENTING ORGANIC FARMERS....the USDA will not allow any promotional or information program, project, or activity that can be viewed as disparaging to conventionally produced products...

Big Ag and their USDA cohorts have attempted to stack The National Organic Standards Board with their ilk, wresting power from true organic proponents, but four seats are now open. If you or someone you know would like to help take back organics, nominations are due May 15, 2014

An outrageous power grab to destroy organics must be stopped! Right now one of the biggest assaults on the integrity of organic foods is taking place at the USDA that has ever been conceived, with high-level political appointees working behind the scenes with giant industrial corporations that sell organic product lines to gut 20 years of precedent in the congressionally-mandated National Organic Standards Board (NOSB).

Nation of Change, July 27, 2014 -▶ TOP AGRIBUSINESS FOOD COMPANIES DUMPING WASTE IN OUR WATERS.Companies like Tyson Foods, Cargill, Inc., and Perdue Farms Inc. dump their garbage—more than 206 million pounds of it—into our water almost every year and leave others to worry about the clean-up. Now, as the Environmental Protection Agency considers a rule to restore the Clean Water Act, these companies are pulling out all the stops to maintain their freedom to dump and pollute, regardless of the toxic outcomes.http://www.nationofchange.org/top-agribusiness-food-companies-dumping-waste-our-waters-1406476247

Common Dream, February 27, 2014 ▶ ORGANIC AGRICULTURE: THE WAY FORWARD IN THE AGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE.Cling to a food system that contributes to climate change and jeopardizes food security, or adopt a regenerative system that strengthens food security and helps mitigate the climate crisis—"The choice is ours to make," a new report states.http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/02/27-6

Common Dream, February 27, 2014 - ▶ ORGANIC AGRICULTURE: THE WAY FORWARD IN THE AGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE. Cling to a food system that contributes to climate change and jeopardizes food security, or adopt a regenerative system that strengthens food security and helps mitigate the climate crisis—"The choice is ours to make," a new report states.http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/02/27-6

Pambazuka, July 24. 2014 -▶ GMOs AND FOOD SOVEREIGNTY: WHICH WAY AFRICA?African governments are under intense pressure from within but also from big agribusiness and Western governments to embrace GMOs. Governments must resist all forms of arm-twisting and food colonialism and make their biotechnology choices based on the factshttp://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/92594

▶ MONSANTO, GMOs IN YOUR FOOD?Monsanto, GMOs in your food : The guessing game is over. No longer will consumers wonder what companies are behind the millions of products that fill supermarket shelves because there’s an app for that.

After reading this article and having worked at a organic farmers market, i do not believe everything labeled as "organic" can all be 100 percent accurate. Although many are certified or classified as being organic i do not believe what the organic companies are trying to sell us. Makes me as an individual believe what is going on in the world, where you cannot trust what is being put down your mouth. Obviously a person has to eat but what exactly are they eating is the proper question. Certainty an eyebrow raising situation i believe everything is a scam. People will pay for something that is labeled as "organic" which only profits the business and is all about money, rather then be as a positive interest to an individual.

Daily Mail, May 20, 2014-▶ GENETICALLY MODIFIED Bt FOOD TOXIN FOUND IN THE BLOOD OF 95% OF UNBORN BABIES - NEW STUDY.The new study was carried out by independent doctors at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, at the University of Sherbrooke Hospital Centre in Quebec, Canada. Traces of Bt toxin were found in the blood of 93 per cent of the pregnant mothers – 28 out of 30. It was also found in 80 per cent of the umbilical cords – 24 out of 30. In the non-pregnant group, traces were found in the blood of 69 per cent – 27 out of 39. It is thought the toxin is getting into the human body as a result of eating meat, milk and eggs from farm livestock fed GM corn.The Canadian team told the scientific journal Reproductive Toxicology: ‘This is the first study to highlight the presence of pesticides associated with genetically modified foods in maternal, foetal and non-pregnant women’s blood.’..http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1388888/GM-food-toxins-blood-93-unborn-babies.html

Grist, October 16, 2013▶ CATCH THE DRIFT: FARMERS GO ROGUE TO FIGHT AIRBORNE PESTICIDE POLLUTION. Use and exposure to agricultural sprays have been associated with various types of cancer and neurological disorders, with farmworkers being most susceptible due to their time in the fields during and after applications. The drift is also responsible for diminishing number of bees.http://grist.org/food/drift-catchers-use-citizen-science-to-fight-pesticide-pollution/

▶ PESTICIDE-LADEN POT: THE DANGERS OF LURKING CONTAMINANTS AND PESTICIDES WITH COMPROMISED IMMUNE SYSTEMS. Humboldt State University, Jeffrey Raber said a recent study he conducted found that up to 70 percent of the pesticides found on a marijuana bud can transfer to the smoke being inhaled.."It's much like injecting it directly into your blood stream.”...

Ag Professional, August 01, 2014 -▶ CHINA ADOPTS STRICTER PESTICIDE RESIDUE STANDARD. The new standard includes 3,650 indices detailing the maximum allowable residue for 387 pesticides on 284 types of food, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Health and Family Planning Commission, which jointly issued the standard. Compared with the current standard that took effect in 2012, the new standard contains 1,357 new indices covering 65 new pesticides and 43 new types of food.The standard covers vegetables, fruits, grain, edible oil, sugar, soft drinks, nuts, eggs and meat. It includes juice and preserved fruits for the first time.http://www.agprofessional.com/news/China-adopts-stricter-pesticide-residue-standard-269591991.html

The reason why you may not have thought much about these pesticide plants before is because our media has found itself in an unhealthy alliance with well paid spokespeople who aggressively represent the biotech industry’s point of view.

Simply frightful! I have been commenting on this topic since I first published my in house thesis for the 21st century:Quantum Organiculture. It was published for me by the Jamaican Gleaner company during the 80s and 90s, and a modified version by the Science Research Council of Jamaica at their 16th Annual Conference in Kingston Jamaica. My position remains the same and as far as I cn see is being almightily reinforced by these findings.

WASHINGTON — The corn refinery and sugar industries, bitter rivals in the manufacture of billions of dollars’ worth of sweeteners for sodas and other high-calorie foods, covertly funded dueling nonprofit groups in Washington in a multiyear effort to grab market share, while also stoking fears among consumers about possible health risks, court records made public in a federal lawsuit between the two parties show.

The lawsuit, which has brought hundreds of pages of secret corporate emails and strategy documents into the public domain, demonstrates how Washington-based groups and academic experts frequently become extensions of corporate lobbying campaigns as rival industries use them to try to inflict damage on their competitors or defend their reputations against such assaults...

Big Ag companies have a vested interest in GMO seeds, and the pesticides and herbicides they use in tandem. GMO cotton, soy, sugar beets and corn, which are manipulated to make sweeteners and fats along with other additives like high-fructose corn syrup and soy lecithin, are in ready-made food, snacks, condiments, juice, soda and cereal. Many companies pushing these products into the marketplace prefer to hold profits high and keep consumers in the dark. Labeling these products would affect close to 80% of processed, non-organic food in the US.http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/13062-a-list-of-food-companies-that-hide-gmos

SugarScience.org Americans are consuming unprecedented amounts of dietary sugars in the form of sugary drinks and packaged/processed foods – far more than we did just a few decades ago. A growing body of new science suggests that all this sugar isn’t just making us fat; it may also be making us sick.http://www.sugarscience.org/why-sugar-why-now.html

THE SOURCE TO GO TO FOR SUGARSCIENCE.ORGThe authoritative source for evidence-based, scientific information about sugar and its impact on healthhttp://www.sugarscience.org/

“Since it came on the market in late 1970s, diabetes and obesity has grown roughly the same rate as its sales,” he said. “We believe in this issue and we felt it was really important the public know.”

Mr. Turner and a lawyer for the sugar industry, Adam R. Fox, each said there was no intentional effort to hide the sugar industry support for Citizens for Health. A tax return filed in 2013 shows the contribution from the industry association, and a website run by the group also now discloses the support. But earlier versions of the document and the website, even after the contract with the Sugar Association had been signed, did not reflect the association’s donation. But Mr. Turner acknowledged he could have done more to make sure the financial support was publicly known at the time it began.

Marion Nestle, a New York University professor and nutrition expert named in several documents as someone whom corn industry executives sought to influence, said the role both industries played was unfortunate.

“It is a plague on both of their houses,” she said, adding that she felt manipulated by the corn refiners industry, which used her statements to defend its products. “It is a disgusting performance neither should be proud of.”

REDUCING GROWTH HORMONES USE IN FOOD ANIMALSUp to 70 percent of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. are used in food animals. For years, farmers and ranchers have used antibiotics to help food animals grow faster on less feed. This practice, known as “growth promotion,”http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/trouble-with-antibiotics/

HuffingtonPost, July 25, 2014 ▶ FEDS FAILING TO ACT ON ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE DESPITE GRAVE THREAT, HEALTH ADVOCATES WARN.Public health advocates are fuming over a new court ruling that they say could hasten the coming of the next pandemic. In a 2-1 decision released Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration need not consider banning the use of antibiotics in healthy food-producing animals.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/25/antibiotic-resistance-livestock-lawsuit-nrdc_n_5621299.html

Cattle, swine, chickens and other livestock receive an estimated 80 percent of the nation's antibiotics, according to the FDA. Whether used to treat our future food, prevent the spread of disease in cramped conditions or simply to promote growth, animal antibiotics are thought to affect human health via multiple pathways: direct or indirect contact with food, water, air or anywhere manure goes.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/09/antibiotic-farm-animals-fda-regulation_n_1193680.html

The pork industry relies on a drug that stresses out pigs—and other ways the industry harms animals through feed. Meat Industry Still Denying Antibiotic Resistance. After damning reports on from the GAO and European researchers on antibiotics, the meat industry basks in denial. Revolving Door: Still Swinging Between USDA and Meat Industry. A top official at the USDA's meat-inspection service goes to work for Big Turkey in "regulatory affairs."

While human antibiotic use has leveled off at below 8 billion pounds annually, livestock farms have been sucking in more and more of the drugs each year—and consumption reached a record nearly 29.9 billion pounds in 2011. To put it another way, the livestock industry is now consuming nearly four-fifths of the antibiotics used in the US, and its appetite for them is growing... http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/02/meat-industry-still-gorging-antibiotics

Modern Farmer, June 17, 2014DUTCH FARMERS JUST SAY NO TO ANTIBIOTICS FOR LIVESTOCK.

This farmer raises more than 17,000 pigs each year and it's open for public viewing. Owner Gerbert Oosterlaken believes the more you can see, the better. “We decided that animal health, and human health, would be our priority,” Oosterlaken told me last fall in his barn, surrounded by warm plastic-lined pens where sows snoozed and new piglets squealed. “I don’t need to take antibiotics every day. There’s no reason my pigs should either.” http://modernfarmer.com/2014/06/abstinence-method/

Economic Times, June 09, 2014 ▶ INDIA OFFICIALS SEEK TO CURB ANTIBIOTICS AND HORMONES IN ANIMAL FEED.Fearing spread of antibiotic resistance through the food chain, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) and the agriculture ministry have directed state governments to stop the use of antibiotics and hormones in animal feed. They have also called for strict implementation of a 2012 law, which mandates a gap between the time an animal is given a drug for medical purposes and sale of food products from that animal.http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-06-09/news/50448268_1_food-producing-animals-antibiotics-animal-feed

Chicago Sun-Times, October 07, 2014FACTORY FARMS SOW SUPERBUGS.In its recent report on antimicrobial resistance, the World Health Organization (WHO) said: “A post-antibiotic era in which common infections and minor injuries can kill — far from being an apocalyptic fantasy — is instead a very real possibility for the 21st Century.

”There are several causes leading to the development of antibiotic-resistant superbugs, and a major contributor is the use of low doses of antibiotics in factory farms. More than 70 percent of antibiotics in classes used in human medicine are sold for use in food for animals. These drugs are placed in the food and water of livestock to accelerate growth and help compensate for often horrific, unsanitary living conditions.

To increase profitability – and productivity – industrial agriculture has mechanized production processes and reduced options to a few highly controlled varieties. In the beginning of factory farming, one size was supposed to fit all and the landscape everywhere (including water and micro-climates) was to be engineered to accommodate only the selected commercial variety of plant or animal.... Of course, such defiance of nature caused serious problems and local ecosystems were thrown out of balance. The soil dried up and blew away. Insects and weeds invaded crops and destroyed yields. And so the arch controllers of nature invented pesticides and herbicides – and a highly profitable chemical industry was born to rule over the land.

Capitalism and the accompanying industrial revolution promised to free us from the bonds of nature, limit the quality and variety of products, and greatly increase the quantity of sales necessary to consolidate power and wealth. Over the relative short time the industrial system has been in place, it has separated us entirely from our organic roots – physically and spiritually. And everything has become artificially fabricated outside of nature: our society, our religions, and certainly most of our food...http://www.goodfoodworld.com/2014/09/seed-is-life-soil-is-life-water-is-life/

Common Dreams, February 23, 2015▶ MANIPULATE AND MISLEAD: HOW GMOs ARE INFILTRATING AFRICAThe most persistent myth about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is that they are necessary to feed a growing global population. Highly effective marketing campaigns have drilled it into our heads that GMOs will produce more food on less land in an environmentally friendly manner. The mantra has been repeated so often that it is considered to be truth. Now this mantra has come to Africa, sung by the United States government and multinational corporations like Monsanto, seeking to open new markets for a product that has been rejected by so many others around the globe. http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/02/23/manipulate-and-mislead-how-gmos-are-infiltrating-africa

Genetic engineering is about private corporate control of the food system.

▶ THE RABID TACTICS OF THE BIOTECH INDUSTRY TO GAIN CONTROL OF GHANA'S FOOD SYSTEMWhose interests does Prof. Alhassan represent? Prof. Alhassan was been quoted as dismissing anti-GMO groups because, according to him, they allegedly do not have any scientific proof or knowledge to offer when it comes GMO technology. But he is wrong.

Ghanaian farmers need to abhor and reject scientists laden with conflicts of interest. Monsanto and Syngenta are particularly greedy to get their hands on Ghana’s agriculture and control the seed market here.Professor Alhassan is attempting to control the information farmers and the public see and hear just like the industry he represents....

“Today, large numbers of scientists are in the employ of Big Pharma, Big Ag, and all kinds of corporations with anti-environmental and anti-social justice agendas.”(2)... Professor Alhassan is a key employee of Big Ag, and has been for his entire career....

Truthout, December 04, 2014▶ SEEDS OF THE FUTURE DIMINISHING AS MONO INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE DOMINATES THE WORLD. A third of the world's land area is dedicated to agriculture. Farmers' fields and pastures comprise (after the oceans) the second largest ecosystem on the planet. This vast tract has been largely transformed into sterile monoculture deserts in which all other organisms are suppressed with agrochemicals, and only the cash crop is allowed to thrive. Whether it is soy in the Brazilian Amazon, wheat on the Ukrainian steppes or corn in Iowa, a single high-yield variety typically dominates the landscape for as far as the eye can see. http://truth-out.org/news/item/27760-seeds-of-the-future

REPORT Part 2 of 4 Environmental Justice and Climate Change, November 08, 2014 Environmental and Food Justice THE PANACEA OF GMOs INDIGENOUS RIGHT LIVELIHOODS

▶ HOW COMPANIES FRAME ISSUES OF FOOD AND GLOBAL HUNGER FOR THEIR OWN SELF-INTEREST AND BOTTOMLINE PROFITS

There is a new, but deceptive, foreign drive to end hunger in Africa through large-scale agribusiness. Yet helping poor households in rural Africa feed themselves in an affordable manner means introducing low-cost, sustainable enhancements to farming.

History is riddled with examples of the poor dying of hunger when food was plentiful. Classic amongst these is the famine which wracked the West African Sahel during the early 1970s. While people were dying of hunger in Senegal, Mali and Niger, peanuts — a key sauce ingredient and source of protein across the region — were being exported to Europe....

...The rise of philanthrocapitalism in the US, where former and current business leaders, through the strength of their foundations, have increasingly come to influence the shape and direction of US international development programmes. Central to the philanthrocapitalist worldview is a belief that private enterprise is the fundamental agent of progressive change and that business acumen trumps other forms of expertise...http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/85291

Nagoya, Japan -- Under the guise of developing “climate-ready” crops, the world’s largest seed and agrochemical corporations are filing hundreds of sweeping, multi-genome patents in a bid to control the world’s plant biomass, according to a report released by ETC Grouphttp://www.etcgroup.org/fr/node/5220

African Center for BioSafety, October 08, 2014

▶ ACQUISITION OF AFRICA'S SEEDCO BY MONSANTO FURTHERS GLOBAL SEED CARTEL GRIP: NEO-COLONIAL OCCUPATION OF AFRICA'S SEED SYSTEM. The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) is deeply concerned about the recent acquisitions by multi-national seed companies of large parts of SeedCo, one of Africa’s largest home-grown seed companies. Attracting foreign investment from the world’s largest seed companies, most of who got to their current dominant positions by devouring national seed companies and their competitors through mergers and acquisitions, is an inevitable consequence of the fierce drive to commercialise agriculture in Africa.http://www.acbio.org.za/

GRAIN, October 23, 2014▶ HARVEST OF HARDSHIP: YALA SWAMP LAND GRAB DESTROYS KENYAN FARMERS' LIVELIHOOD.Dominion Farms arrived in Kenya's Yala Swamp basin in 2004 with big promises. The company claimed it would turn a defunct state demonstration farm into a modern rice plantation, provide locals with good jobs, and build hospitals and schools. The American owner of the company, Calvin Burgess, presented himself as a 'man of God', on a mission to bring US-style progress to Africa. The locals, sold on this grand vision, decided – with some hesitation and dissent – to allow Dominion to farm on 3,700 ha of their lands...http://www.grain.org/article/entries/5061-harvest-of-hardship-yala-swamp-land-grab-destroys-kenyan-farmers-livelihoods

-▶ TURNING AFRICA INTO A GMO BONANZA FOR GIANT CORPORATIONS:FOREIGN TAKEOVER OF THE FUTURE OF FARMING IN AFRICAhttp://sco.lt/6qmM1R

GRAIN, May 26, 20142,4-D SOY: WAGING WAR ON PEASANTSGlobal attempts by Dow AgroSciences to gain approval for new genetically-modified soybean varieties resistant to the herbicide 2,4-D have become particularly aggressive in recent months. Simultaneous applications have been filed in several of the countries where genetically engineered crops (GE or transgenic crops or GMOs) were introduced in the 1990s. The push for approval of new transgenics is part of a broader strategy by agribusiness to make the world’s farms increasingly dependent on its toxic herbicides, thus increasing the profits it derives from selling these chemicals. The current situation is a rerun of the 1990s’ introduction of Roundup Ready (glyphosate-resistant) crops, only this time the herbicides in question are much more toxic. These weed-killers have been around for a longer time and the case for their hazardousness to human health and the environment has been well documented.http://www.grain.org/article/entries/4945-2-4-d-soy-waging-war-on-peasants

▶ THESE TOP FOOD COMPANIES CONTROL ALMOST EVERYTHING WE EAT:There are more than 38,000 products in the average American supermarket. That means tons of choice, right? In fact, the vast majority of these products are owned by just 10 companies. Those friendly looking Green Giant pees? That's General Mills. And Odwalla juice? That's Coca Cola. This matters, of course, because we deserve to know where our food comes from--and how it's made. http://www.fastcocreate.com/3032899/see-who-actually-owns-the-food-you-eat-and-how-theyre-behaving

Pambazuka, September 25, 2014▶ MAYAN PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT DEFEATS MONSANTO LAW IN GUATEMALA. There was a great risk that the Monsanto Law would have made criminals of already repressed small farmers who are just trying to make ends meet and doing what they have done for generations – cultivating corn and black beans for their own consumption. The Monsanto Law meant that they would not have been able to grow and harvest anything that originates from natural seeds. Farmers would be breaking the laws if these natural seeds had been mixed with patented seeds from other crops as a result of pollination or wind, unless they had had a license for the patented seed from a transnational corporation like Monsanto. .. The Monsanto Law would have given exclusivity on patented seeds to a handful of transnational companies....the Mayan people – or actually most people – in Guatemala do not agree with a policy of treating nature like a commodity to be sold off piece by piece, ...http://pambazuka.net/en/category/features/92994

▶ CULTIVATING SANITY : BANGLADESH FARMERS TURN BACK THE CLOCK TO COMBAT CLIMATE STRESSED CROPS - Cultivation of the old varieties is expanding in part because they need almost no chemical fertiliser or pesticides - which makes them cheaper and easier to grow - and because their yields are good in tough conditions.http://www.trust.org/item/20141126125124-0i6go

ReliefWeb, December 19, 2014▶ MAIZE, RICE, WHEAT FARMING MUST BECOME MORE SUSTAINABLE: FAO.The FAO meeting agreed that agriculture can no longer rely on input-intensive agriculture to increase crop production. Improved varieties of maize, rice and wheat must go hand-in-hand with what FAO calls "Save and Grow" farming systems that keep soil healthy, integrate crop, tree and animal production, use water far more efficiently, and protect crops with integrated pest management..Experts at the meeting said that that challenge could only be met with eco-friendly agriculture that achieves higher productivity while conserving natural resources, adapting to climate change, and delivering economic benefits to the world's 500 million small-scale family farms.

▶ OUR CONTEMPORARY, WESTERN AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM IS DESTROYING THE EARTH AND OUR HEALTH

Over the course of the past century our food supply has shifted from local to global. Most food our grandparents ate was grown regionally, often by neighbourhood farmers.

Today our food comes from across the world. More importantly, it is often produced in highly destructive ways, at the lowest possible cost.

Consequently our food production system is responsible for accelerating the rate of destruction of the very ecosystems we are reliant upon in order to maintain our delicate global environmental equilibrium.

We cut and clear the lungs of the world, our tropical rainforests, to feed livestock or grow dishonestly named "biofuels". We bulldoze natural filtration systems and the nurseries for life like wetlands and mangrove swamps to produce luxury foods for obese populations... http://allafrica.com/stories/201401071158.html?viewall=1

Natural News, March 02, 2015▶ PARAGUAYAN SMALL FARMERS FIGHT BACK AGAINST MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS DESTROYING THEIR LIVES

Truthout, December 04, 2014▶ SEEDS OF THE FUTURE DIMINISHING AS MONO INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE DOMINATES THE WORLD. A third of the world's land area is dedicated to agriculture. Farmers' fields and pastures comprise (after the oceans) the second largest ecosystem on the planet. This vast tract has been largely transformed into sterile monoculture deserts in which all other organisms are suppressed with agrochemicals, and only the cash crop is allowed to thrive. Whether it is soy in the Brazilian Amazon, wheat on the Ukrainian steppes or corn in Iowa, a single high-yield variety typically dominates the landscape for as far as the eye can see. http://truth-out.org/news/item/27760-seeds-of-the-future

- ▶ HOW BIOTECH CORPORATIONS AND GMO CROPS ARE THREATENING THE ENVIRONMENT AND HUMANKIND ALIKEhttp://sco.lt/7OmezB

Biocultural Heritage, ▶ SMALLHOLDER INDIGENOUS INNOVATION FOR RESILIENCE. Much of the world's agrobiodiversity has been lost in the last century due to the spread of modern agriculture. Only about 30 crops now provide 95% of all human diet (FAO). The pockets of crop diversity that remain, which are often sustained by indigenous people and small-scale farmers, are vital for food security because they provide options for adaptation, now and in the future. These local varieties (or landraces), are adapted to the natural and cultural environment, are often more resilient than modern crops, and are continuing to co-evolve with farmers to adapt to change. But this diversity is in steady decline and innovation by small-scale farmers is weakening as a result of top down research and development in agriculture, which undermines their capacity to adapt.http://biocultural.iied.org/smallholder-innovation-resilience-sifor

-▶ GMOs AND FOOD SOVEREIGNTY: WHICH WAY AFRICA?African governments are under intense pressure from within but also from big agribusiness and Western governments to embrace GMOs. Governments must resist all forms of arm-twisting and food colonialism and make their biotechnology choices based on the factshttp://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/92594

Pambazuka -Voices for Freedom and Justice in Africa

▶ HOW MEGA CORPORATIONS FRAME ISSUES OF FOOD AND GLOBAL HUNGER FOR THEIR OWN SELF-INTEREST AND BOTTOM=LINE PROFITS. There is a new, but deceptive, foreign drive to end hunger in Africa through large-scale agribusiness. Yet helping poor households in rural Africa feed themselves in an affordable manner means introducing low-cost, sustainable enhancements to farming.

...The rise of philanthrocapitalism in the US, where former and current business leaders, through the strength of their foundations, have increasingly come to influence the shape and direction of US international development programmes. Central to the philanthrocapitalist worldview is a belief that private enterprise is the fundamental agent of progressive change and that business acumen trumps other forms of expertise... http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/85291

▶ DESPITE CLIMATE CHANGE, AFRICAN CAN FEED AFRICA. There is a continuing argument as to whether the industrial agricultural revolution will solve some or all of Africa's climate change problems. However, experts maintain that industrial agriculture currently accounts for one third of all greenhouse gas emissions--the very element most responsible for climate change. Additionally, they believe that the resources and infrastructure required to operate an industrial agricultural system in Africa are impractical for smallholder farmers...http://allafrica.com/stories/201402191455.html

Nation of Change, July 27, 2014-▶ TOP AGRIBUSINESS FOOD COMPANIES DUMPING WASTE IN OUR WATERS. Companies like Tyson Foods, Cargill, Inc., and Perdue Farms Inc. dump their garbage—more than 206 million pounds of it—into our water almost every year and leave others to worry about the clean-up. Now, as the Environmental Protection Agency considers a rule to restore the Clean Water Act, these companies are pulling out all the stops to maintain their freedom to dump and pollute, regardless of the toxic outcomes. http://www.nationofchange.org/top-agribusiness-food-companies-dumping-waste-our-waters-1406476247

▶ WALL STREET, CORPORATIONS GOBBLING UP AMERICAN, FOREIGN FARMLAND, THREATENING FUTURE OF U.S. AND WORLD AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITYhttp://sco.lt/8mcmbR

EcoWatch, February 22, 2014

-▶ STOP FEEDING THE BEAST AND START FEEDING THE PEOPLE. We have a system of predatory agriculture in which corporations pursue private gain relentlessly regardless of the social consequences. Social consequences can be defined as anything from polluting our water, land and air to impacting the health of our families to making the business of farming economically unsustainable.http://ecowatch.com/2014/02/22/stop-feeding-beast-start-feeding-people/

▶ A LOOPHOLE FOR PESTICIDES PUTS PUBLIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AT RISK- the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved roughly 11,000 pesticides, with little or no safety tests, intended for use in agriculture, inside homes, on lawns, in hand soaps, on clothing and other consumer goods, according to a multi-year investigation by the Natural Resources Defense Council.http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2013/03/loophole-pesticides-risks-public-health

Cornucopia Institute, June 11, 2014 ▶ SMALL FARMERS ARE FEEDING THE WORLD ON LESS LAND.A new study by GRAIN reports that small farmers are the world’s main food producers and they do it on a quarter of the land of large farms. As large monoculture farms continue to gobble up the land to grow exports, small farmers are producing more food per acre and feeding the local people. Biodiversity and companion planting on small farms further reduce crop losses to drought, pests and disease.http://www.cornucopia.org/2014/06/small-farmers-feeding-world-less-land/

National Geographic, "Future of Food" May 02, 2014 ▶ FEED THE WORLD: FAMILY FARMERS HOLD KEYS TO AGRICULTURE IN A WARMING WORLD. When policymakers in the developed world talk about feeding billions of extra mouths in the decades to come, it's multinational agribusinesses—which operate industrial-size farms—that usually get most of the attention.

-▶ INDIGENOUS DIETS CAN FIGHT MODERN ILLNESSES, SAY HEALTH EXPERTS Unprecedented levels of chronic non-communicable diseases are prompting calls to revert to the diets of our ancestors to regain lost nutrients. It is believed that such a shift would help to improve society's relationship with the Earth and restore human and environmental health. "The rise of the industrial model of agriculture has contributed greatly to people being disconnected from the food on their plates," says Sarah Somian, a France-based nutritionist.http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/feb/03/indigenous-diets-fight-modern-illnesses

WATCH (10:46)

The Satoyama InitiativeSATOYAMA: TOWARD A RURAL SOCIETY IN HARMONY WITH NATUREJapan gave the name of the SATOYAMA Initiative to establishment of universal philosophy for sustainable maintenance and use of natural resourceshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAcS6px3WEg

Common Dream, February 27, 2014 - ▶ ORGANIC AGRICULTURE: THE WAY FORWARD IN THE AGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE.Cling to a food system that contributes to climate change and jeopardizes food security, or adopt a regenerative system that strengthens food security and helps mitigate the climate crisis—"The choice is ours to make," a new report states.http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/02/27-6

BBC News, June 24, 2014 ▶ GROWING PAINS OF CHINA'S AGRICULTURAL WATER NEEDS.Farming accounts for about 65% of water use in China and the limited resource is coming under pressure from rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. The study focused on four major food crops - soya, wheat, rice and corn (maize) - and three livestock groups: ruminant, pork and poultry. Together, these products accounted for 93% of China's domestic food supply in 2005, according to figures from the United Nations. http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27978124

March 05, 2015 -▶ GUATEMALA: CROPS IN VALLEY OF PEACE DESTROYED BY GLYPHOSATE HERBICIDE.About a million dollars in vegetables have been destroyed in the Valley of Peace area, Cayo District. Farmers say herbicide spraying caused the destruction. The toxic effect of glyphosate can be seen everywhere, from the treetops above to the undergrowth below.http://edition.channel5belize.com/archives/96836

...was written with contributions from over 60 experts, and finds that "urgent and far-reaching action" is needed to address the "collective crisis" of "rural poverty, persistent hunger around the world, growing populations, and mounting environmental concerns."

BillMoyers.com, November 21, 2014▶'FOOD CHAINS,' A NEW DOCUMENTARY BY 'FOOD, INC."Food Chains, a new hard-hitting documentary about the battle between Florida farmworkers and the giant supermarket and fast food conglomerates. Farmworkers are among the lowest paid workers in America, averaging about $12,000 per year in wages, and many of them, especially women, have been subjected to human rights abuses in the fields. In its review of the film, The New York Times calls Food Chains an “emphatic and empathetic documentary” that presents farm laborers as modern-day slaveshttp://billmoyers.com/2014/11/21/food-chains/

▶ THE DANGEROUS NEW SECRETIVE GLOBAL TRADE PACTS WILL IMPACT US ALL. THREATENS SOVEREIGNTY AND PUBLIC OWNERSHIPhttp://sco.lt/74uPth

This study, the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development, suggested that food production should hark back to its roots and use resources more smartly and equitably.

Trade distorting subsidies must end. Local ownership and stewardship require encouragement. Practices that preserve and restore ecological resources need to be pursued. Relevant science and technology can be adopted while constantly bearing in mind the multifunctional role of agriculture.

There certainly are practical models, capable of correcting the wrongs we have wrought on our ecosystems, to produce sufficient food for all.

The real (political) trick is to shift control of these resources back to where they are most needed - as Amartya Sen said - to those who trapped in poverty, without access to good, affordable food.

Simultaneously, those able to make informed choices should leverage their purchasing power to encourage a shift away from unhealthy and unsustainable eating choices.

Ashton is a writer and researcher working in civil society. Some of his work can be viewed at www.ekogaia.org.

Research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences earlier this year, raises fresh worries about nanotechnology. Some critics say it’s becoming quickly integrated into the modern economy and the world environment faster than scientists can sort out its potential dangers.“We need to put together a model where we’re thinking this through before we get to a point that we can’t undo it,” said Patty Lovera, an assistant director of the consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch.

Modern Farmer, January 15, 2015- ▶ EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT NANOPESTICIDES. ...the unique physical properties of the nano-scale call into question the particles’ environmental fate. Once they’re sprayed on fields, will they clump on crops or slide through the soil into water bodies? Most worrisome, Harper wonders whether they will be readily taken up by organisms that aren’t pests (such as bees or fish), and how long they will persist in the environment — properties that could radically change with size. “We just don’t know,” ...

- ▶ THINK THOSE 80,000 CHEMICALS AND PESTICIDES IN YOUR FOOD & ENVIRONMENT HAVE BEEN TESTED?http://sco.lt/91jqHh

New York Times, May 30, 2014

▶ CORPORATIONS QUIETLY INSERTING UNTESTED SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY INTO HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS.The processes using synthetic biology involve techniques that more extensively alter genetic code. Those include “artificial gene synthesis,” in which DNA is created on computers and inserted into organisms, and other methods for changing DNA sequences and genes within organisms to alter their function.http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/31/business/biofuel-tools-applied-to-household-soaps.html

The life of an egg-laying chicken in the U.S., or one of 301 million others like her, normally lasts 12 to 18 months, during which she produces up to 450 eggs. But what happens after that, when she's no longer considered profitable by the egg industry? According to a new investigation, the life of a "spent" bird — the industry's term for a hen who's no longer used for her eggs — is short and not so sweet.

REDUCING GROWTH HORMONES USE IN FOOD ANIMALSUp to 70 percent of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. are used in food animals. For years, farmers and ranchers have used antibiotics to help food animals grow faster on less feed. This practice, known as “growth promotion,”http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/trouble-with-antibiotics/

George Monbiot, December 17, 2014- ▶ OVERGROWTH: What can you say about a society whose food production must be hidden from public view? In which the factory farms and slaughterhouses supplying much of our diet must be guarded like arsenals to prevent us from seeing what happens there? The growth rate of broiler chickens has quadrupled in 50 years: they are now killed at seven weeks(2). By then they are often crippled by their weight. Animals selected for obesity cause obesity. Bred to bulge, scarcely able to move, overfed, factory farmed chickens now contain almost three times as much fat as chickens did in 1970, and just two thirds of the protein(3). Stalled pigs and feedlot cattle have undergone a similar transformation. Meat production? No, this is fat production.

Growth Hormones For Rapid Growth, 'Efficiency' and Fast Profits . Large poultry companies such as Tyson have vertically monopolized the production of chickens from egg to slaughter and have breed a chicken with an overdeveloped breast that reaches maturity in 49 days instead of 3 months....

REDUCING GROWTH HORMONES USE IN FOOD ANIMALSUp to 70 percent of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. are used in food animals. For years, farmers and ranchers have used antibiotics to help food animals grow faster on less feed. This practice, known as “growth promotion,”http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/trouble-with-antibiotics/

Common Dreams, December 19, 2013 - ▶ IS YOUR CHICKEN DINNER MAKING YOU SICK?Two new reports highlight public health risks. For its report "The High Cost of Cheap Chicken," Consumer Reports tested over 300 raw chicken breasts, including some labeled as organic and antibiotic free, at national retailers. The study found that nearly all (97 percent) had potentially harmful bacteria, and roughly half (49.7 percent) the chicken sampled contained at least one multidrug-­resistant bacterium...http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/12/19-3

Grist, January 4, 2014 ▶ POULTRY MATTER: WHAT DO DO WITH ALL THE CHICKEN SHIT?Report from the Pew Charitable Trusts on the chicken industry. Nitrogen and phosphorous runoff from agricultural activity is a major source of water pollution in many parts of the country. In the Chesapeake Bay watershed, half of the phosphorous and 40 percent of the excess nitrogen result from agricultural runoff, leading to algae blooms and destructive conditions for the bay’s legendary fish, oysters, and crabs...http://grist.org/food/poultry-matter-what-to-do-with-all-that-chicken-shit/

- ▶ PATENT FOR A PIG -- BIOTECH SCIENTISTS RACING TO RE-ENGINEER OUR FARM ANIMALS: ANIMALS LIKE ON AN INANIMATE AUTO PRODUCTION LINEhttp://sco.lt/7g1H3R

WATCH:

A RIVER OF WASTE

This documentary looks at the potential hazards caused by factory farms in the United States, particularly by waste disposal. Beginning with a history of the American food system, River of Waste shows its evolution to large-scale corporate farms where pollution and use of growth hormones threaten both individual health and the future of our planethttp://sco.lt/5WwPVx

This article talked about many different things, one of the things it talked about was the new gag law. This law states that it is illegal to video tape animal farms without permission. It has been implemented in 5 states already. It also talked about the health of the animals. In the small cramped spaces the animals develop diseases, when they take antibiotics we also recieve these antibiotics. AS we keep consuming these drugs our body becomes immune so when its time for us to really need an antibiotic it might not work.

Farmers are trying to do more to ensure animal safety in farms. Being honest about animal health is a big concern. If an animal has something wrong, the selling of the animal should contain all of the info about the animal. Honesty in the purchasing of animals is very critical. Many farms for breeding are grounds for disease. More antibiotics are being used to ensure animal safety. These animals are being consumed by humans so they are consuming the antibiotics as well so their bodies are becoming less immune to the antibiotic. Scientists suggest that antibiotic use should be limited on farms to ensure more human safety on farms.

THE 21st CENTURY CORPORATE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA World Development Movement-▶ STOP THE CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF AFRICA'S FOOD. Under the guise of tackling hunger, initiatives like the G8 New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, will help corporations take control over Africa’s land, seeds and markets - at the expense of small farmers. Join our campaign to oppose this twenty-first century corporate scramble for Africa. - See more at: http://www.wdm.org.uk/food#sthash.dgDwkdF0.dpufhttp://www.wdm.org.uk/food

GRAIN, October 23, 2014▶ HARVEST OF HARDSHIP: YALA SWAMP LAND GRAB DESTROYS KENYAN FARMERS' LIVELIHOOD.Dominion Farms arrived in Kenya's Yala Swamp basin in 2004 with big promises. The company claimed it would turn a defunct state demonstration farm into a modern rice plantation, provide locals with good jobs, and build hospitals and schools. The American owner of the company, Calvin Burgess, presented himself as a 'man of God', on a mission to bring US-style progress to Africa. The locals, sold on this grand vision, decided – with some hesitation and dissent – to allow Dominion to farm on 3,700 ha of their lands...http://www.grain.org/article/entries/5061-harvest-of-hardship-yala-swamp-land-grab-destroys-kenyan-farmers-livelihoods

LAND GRABS

HOW FOREIGN "INVESTMENTS" ARE REDISTRIBUTING WEALTH, LAND AND WATER ACROSS THE GLOBEhttp://sco.lt/5YJpKb

WATCH"BIG MEN" (1:23:00)Big Men provides an unprecedented inside look at the global deal making and dark underside of energy development in Ghana, Nigeria, Africa — a contest for money and power that is reshaping the world. http://www.pbs.org/pov/bigmen/full.php

Genetic engineering is about private corporate control of the food system.

Pambazuka, February 19, 2015

▶ THE RABID TACTICS OF THE BIOTECH INDUSTRY TO GAIN CONTROL OF GHANA'S FOOD SYSTEMWhose interests does Prof. Alhassan represent? Prof. Alhassan was been quoted as dismissing anti-GMO groups because, according to him, they allegedly do not have any scientific proof or knowledge to offer when it comes GMO technology. But he is wrong.Ghanaian farmers need to abhor and reject scientists laden with conflicts of interest. Monsanto and Syngenta are particularly greedy to get their hands on Ghana’s agriculture and control the seed market here.Professor Alhassan is attempting to control the information farmers and the public see and hear just like the industry he represents....

“Today, large numbers of scientists are in the employ of Big Pharma, Big Ag, and all kinds of corporations with anti-environmental and anti-social justice agendas.”(2)... Professor Alhassan is a key employee of Big Ag, and has been for his entire career....

▶ HOW COMPANIES FRAME ISSUES OF FOOD AND GLOBAL HUNGER FOR THEIR OWN SELF-INTEREST AND BOTTOMLINE PROFITS

There is a new, but deceptive, foreign drive to end hunger in Africa through large-scale agribusiness. Yet helping poor households in rural Africa feed themselves in an affordable manner means introducing low-cost, sustainable enhancements to farming.

History is riddled with examples of the poor dying of hunger when food was plentiful. Classic amongst these is the famine which wracked the West African Sahel during the early 1970s. While people were dying of hunger in Senegal, Mali and Niger, peanuts — a key sauce ingredient and source of protein across the region — were being exported to Europe....

...The rise of philanthrocapitalism in the US, where former and current business leaders, through the strength of their foundations, have increasingly come to influence the shape and direction of US international development programmes. Central to the philanthrocapitalist worldview is a belief that private enterprise is the fundamental agent of progressive change and that business acumen trumps other forms of expertise...http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/85291

Pambazuka, July 24. 2014 -▶ GMOs AND FOOD SOVEREIGNTY: WHICH WAY AFRICA?African governments are under intense pressure from within but also from big agribusiness and Western governments to embrace GMOs. Governments must resist all forms of arm-twisting and food colonialism and make their biotechnology choices based on the factshttp://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/92594

farmlandgrab.org, August 04, 2014▶ CORPORATE INFLUENCE THROUGH THE G8NA AND OBAMA'S NEW ALLIANCE FOR FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION IN AFRICA. In recent times, new partnerships models between governments, business and civil society are increasingly gaining attention. One prominent example is the "New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition" (G8NA), inaugurated at the G8 summit 2012 in the United States.

This working paper concludes that the approach and objectives of the G8NA are highly problematic. The initiative serves as an enforcing mechanism for corporate driven blueprints for agriculture and sidelines national plans and international standards. It is dominated and tailored towards the interests of big corporate actors and is based on a reductionist approach of agricultural “development”. And lastly, the G8NA is poorly institutionalized and disregards fundamental principles of transparency participation and accountability. http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/23793

Inter Press Service, August 04, 2014▶ THE 'GLOBAL' LAND RUSH.The first years of the twenty-first century will be remembered for a global land rush of nearly unprecedented scale.Today, enthusiasm for agriculture borders on speculative mania. When the price of food spiked in 2008, pushing the number of hungry people in the world to over one billion, it spiked the interest of investors as well, and within a year foreign land deals in the developing world rose by a staggering 200 percent.http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/08/the-global-land-rush/

▶ A PRIVATE AFFAIR: REPORT SHOWS HOW DEVELOPMENT FINANCE INSTITUTIONS BENEFIT THE RICH IN WESTERN COUNTRIESThe European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) launched today the study A Private Affair in which it shows how the world’s biggest multilateral lenders are using billions of euros of loans in developing countries to finance Western-based companies while excluding governments and citizens of countries they are meant to assist from decision-making.

Action Aid Report, May 23, 2014 ▶ GLOBAL POLICIES ENCOURAGE LAND GRABBING AND WORSEN HUNGER AND POVERTY.“Allowing land to become vehicles for wealthy corporations and individuals to become richer while pushing vulnerable rural people into poverty and hunger is unjust, unwise and unethical,” it said in the report.http://www.trust.org/item/20140523061928-bn12w/

There are massively disturbing ethical, environmental, and health concerns that make the introduction of Frankenfish highly controversial...

Frankenfish could be on your dinner plate by the end of the year.

On December 21, at the very end of the last business day before Christmas week, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) quietly released its environmental assessment that found “no significant impact” from the controversial AquaBounty AquaAdvantage transgenic salmon.,,

What is the rationale behind genetically engineered salmon? Why have scientists spliced genes from an eel-like creature called the ocean pout into the genome of the Atlantic salmon? These genes crank out growth hormone year-round, resulting in a fish that grows faster, cutting the time to reach market weight almost in half. This could mean cost savings for fish farmers, leading to higher profits for the salmon farming industry and (they promise) lower prices for consumers.

-▶ CANADA APPROVES EXPORT OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED SALMON EGGS - TO USA via PANAMA'S AQUABOUNTYCanada will allow genetically modified salmon eggs to be produced and exported — but no way in hell will the eggs be allowed to hatch on Canadian soil. The eggs will be exported to Aquabounties hatcheries in Panama and then exported to the USAhttp://grist.org/news/canada-approves-export-of-genetically-modified-salmon-eggs/

UNESCO, February 22, 2012-▶ MARINE SCIENTIST ALARMED ABOUT INCREASING THREAT TO OCEAN ECOSYSTEMS. In the last 30 years, coastal resources such as mangroves, coral reefs and fishery resources have become depleted on a large scale. For example, more than 60 per cent of Asia’s mangroves have already been converted to aquaculture farms (ESCAP and ADB, 2000). The region is losing its resource bases to support people’s livelihoods and sustain future economic development. http://www.unescobkk.org/news/article/marine-scientists-alarmed-about-increasing-threats-to-ocean-ecosystems/

AquaBounty, the company behind the first Frankenfish, insists that their creation poses no threat to wild salmon populations. But research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that a release of just sixty GE salmon into a wild population of 60,000 would lead to the extinction of the wild population in less than 40 fish generations.

Not a Good mix and no matter how tightly confined pens are, there's always 'one'

Some years ago I saw a YouTube discussion on Genetically Engineered salmon where a private firm was advocating genetic engineering of the fish and its advantages. Actually they were interested in profits, nothing else.

The fish grows to three times in weight as compared to the natural salmon in half the time. Salmon's breeding grounds are rivers and salmon eats anything that moves. Did this private company ever conducted a single biosafety test to ensure their engineered salmon's impact on Natural environment and aquatic life? I don't think so.

Thanks Marian. That bit I did not know that just 60 could wipe out 60,000. I must read this report because we don't know if someone in South Asia is using that technology. Will you kindly send me the URL? Thanks again.

"Sadly, a GMO free world is now virtually impossible. Transgenes have already escaped into the biosphere, creating a pollution that is truly irreversible. The least we can do is to stop this global experiment, as it is being conducted without the informed consent of those being exposed to its fallout. The Biotech GMO Cartel enjoys free license with little or no regulation or oversight, or labeling. This must cease. We should not have to fight for our food security and food safety while multi-national corporations are making trillions of dollars from our ill-health caused by their produce and products".

BAN GMOs NOW - SPECIAL REPORT

Institute of Science in Society

@ISISscience

GM agriculture is failing on all counts while hazards to health and the environment are coming to light. Opposition to GMOs is gaining momentum worldwide but the expansionist GM corporate agenda continues undiminished. GM agriculture is a recipe for disaster as this report will make clear. It is also standing in the way of the shift to sustainable agriculture already taking place in local communities all over the world that can truly enable people to feed themselves in times of climate change. Take action now to ban environmental releases of GMOs, locally in communities, villages, towns, municipalities, regions, as well as nationally and globally. We the people need to reclaim our food and seed sovereignty from the corporate empire before they destroy our food, farming (and human/environment) health irreversibly...http://www.i-sis.org.uk/Ban_GMOs_Now_-_Special_ISIS_Report.php

June 06, 2014-▶FOOD FIGHT, CORPORATE TRADE AGREEMENTS AND STATES' RIGHTS: DEMOCRACY OR CORPOCRACY?Angered by Monsanto and agribusiness stomping on their traditional community rights, consumers are fighting back, and so is the powerful Biotech Agri-Chemical Industry.Approximately 1,000 counties in the U.S. have explicit authority in their state constitution to allow and uphold citizen ballot initiatives. Fearing that more and more counties will launch these initiatives, factory farm and biotech interests in at least A DOZEN STATES HAVE PASSED SO-CALLED “RIGHT-TO-FARM" LEGISLATION DESIGNED TO PROTECT THE INTEREST OF CORPORATEhttp://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_29258.cfm

Sustainable Business, May 20, 2014

▶ GLOBAL COALITION FORMS TO TAKE ON GMO AGRICULTURE BRINGING TOGETHER 4.5 MILLION PEOPLE - A new global organization has formed to take the GMO issue on. The Global GMO Free Coalition brings together GMO-free groups across 6 continents with a total membership of over 4.5 million people. More than 60 groups are part of this first globally coordinated network that plans to take the GMO food and crop industry head on. Among the countries represented: US, UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Russia, Georgia, Iran, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Taiwan, Australia, South Africa, New Caledonia and Ghana.Its aim, they say, is to cut through biotech industry propaganda, providing fact-based independent information to the media and governments that leads to responsible regulation in countries worldwide.

▶ FINAL REPORT TO UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL ON THE RIGHT TO FOOD. In his final report to the UN Human Rights Council after a six-year term as Special Rapporteur, Olivier De Schutter today called for the world’s food systems to be radically and democratically redesigned....

-▶ STOP FEEDING THE BEAST AND START FEEDING THE PEOPLE. We have a system of predatory agriculture in which corporations pursue private gain relentlessly regardless of the social consequences. Social consequences can be defined as anything from polluting our water, land and air to impacting the health of our families to making the business of farming economically unsustainable.http://ecowatch.com/2014/02/22/stop-feeding-beast-start-feeding-people/

-▶AGRIBUSINESS OVER LOCAL CITIZENS . And in Hawaii and Jackson County, Ore., where there are active initiatives in play, the biotech industry and the Farm Bureau are now pouring millions of dollars into campaigns to defeat those initiatives.http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_29258.cfm

▶ OUR INDUSTRIAL, WESTERN CORPORATE AGRICULTURAL FOOD SYSTEM IS DESTROYING THE EARTH AND OUR HEALTHhttp://sco.lt/63qRl3

pdjmoo's insight:

THE GMO WARS -

AN ALL OUT ASSAULT FROM THE BIOTECH GMO CARTELS

NO REGULATIONS, NO OVERSIGHT, NO LABELING

July 21, 2014 @pdjmoo:

There is an extraordinary, well-funded, co-ordinated PR push by the powerful Biotech GMO industry, using Biotech "shills" to write articles in all top publications, on both sides of the Atlantic, right now, with the intent of bulldozing the less informed into global GMO acceptance, with little peer reviewed (vs self-interest industry studies) science references or acknowledgement of environmental and human health concerns. Expect an all out attack including character assassinations, USDA propaganda, heavy lobbying and funding of pro-biotech stances. Stay Alert. Do your homework on the sources allegiances and backgrounds

▶ A LOOPHOLE FOR PESTICIDES PUTS PUBLIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AT RISK - the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved roughly 11,000 pesticides intended for use in agriculture, inside homes, on lawns, in hand soaps, on clothing and other consumer goods with little or no safety tests, according to a multi-year investigation by the Natural Resources Defense Council.http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2013/03/loophole-pesticides-risks-public-health

- ▶ 65 BILLION CONFINED FARM ANIMALS - CAFOs (Confined Animal Feed Operations). Today, nearly 65 BILLION animals worldwide, including cows, chickens and pigs, are crammed into CAFOs (Confined Animal Feed Lots). These animals are literally imprisoned and tortured in unhealthy, unsanitary and unconscionably cruel conditions. Sickness is the norm for animals who are confined rather than pastured, and who eat GMO corn and soybeans, rather than grass and forage as nature intended. To prevent the inevitable spread of disease from stress, overcrowding and lack of vitamin D, animals are fed a steady diet of antibiotics. Those antibiotics pose a direct threat to the environment when they run off into our lakes, rivers, aquifers and drinking water.

The vast majority of consumers don’t realize that nearly 95% of the meat, dairy and eggs sold in the U.S. come from CAFOs. Nor do most people realize that CAFOs represent a corporate-controlled system characterized by large-scale, centralized, low profit-margin production, processing and distribution systems....Ronnie Cummins via Common Dreams http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/01/17-5

Huffington Post, December 19, 2014- ▶ EATING FERAL PIG: A MORE SUSTAINABLE ALTERNATIVE TO YOUR PORK CHOPS.More than 100 million pigs are killed every year in the U.S. and the pork industry produced over 23 billion pounds of meat in 2012. The massive industrial operations needed to supply America's pork hunger also have a significant environmental impact. Agriculture, including animal feeding operations, is the most common pollutant of U.S. rivers and streams, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The enormous, toxic waste lagoons attached to some animal feedlots can even be seen from satellites.

Grist, January 29, 2014 -▶ POOR COWS: WE CAN HARVEST METHANE FROM PUNCTURING COW'S STOMACHS, BUT SHOULD WE? Argentinian scientists are punching holes in the sides of cattle and passing pipes through to their stomachs. The other end of the pipe goes into a bag fitted on the cow’s back. The captured gas, which is basically the same natural gas that frackers and other drillers mine out of the ground, can be burned to produce energy. That releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere instead of the methane, which is a far more potent greenhouse gas.

- ▶ HOW YOU BECAME A GUINEA PIG FOR THE CHEMICAL CORPORATIONS 'A hidden epidemic is poisoning America. The toxins are in the air we breathe and the water we drink, in the walls of our homes and the furniture within them. We can't escape it in our cars. It's in cities and suburbs. It afflicts rich and poor, young and old. And there's a reason why you've never read about it in the newspaper or seen a report on the nightly news: it has no name - and no antidote....http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/271-38/17182-focus-how-you-became-a-guinea-pig-for-the-chemical-corporations

WHY BANNING DANGEROUS CHEMICALS IN OUR FOOD AND ENVIRONMENT IS NOT ENOUGH. The growth in chemical production in the past 40 years has been nothing short of explosive, with global output of $171bn in 1970 (pdf) burgeoning to more than $4tn in 2010 (an increase of more than 2,000%). By 2050, the market is expected to expand further to more than $14tn (an increase of more than 250% from 2010), with the BRICS countries dominating and accounting for more than $6tn together ($4tn for China alone). http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2014/sep/16/banning-dangerous-chemicals-business